In the field of security protocol analysis, a class of automated methods relies upon the use of symbolic techniques. We illustrate this approach by focusing on one such method. We outline the underlying protocol model, the concept of symbolic execution and the resulting verification method. We then discuss the benefits of the symbolic approach when contrasted with traditional methods baded on f...

The use of passwords in security protocols is particularly delicate because of the possibility of off-line guessing attacks. We study password-based protocols in the context of a recent line of research that aims to justify symbolic models in terms of more concrete, computational ones. We offer two models for reasoning about the concurrent use of symmetric, asymmetric, and passwordbased encrypt...